this is not like the debt ceiling. the debt ceiling we were all terrified. if we even went a few hours with the u.s. government not paying interest on its debt, then god knows what would have happened. this is not like that. this is something where the negative effects kick in gradually. the world won't end if we go a month into this thing, so he can afford to wait, where i believe the republicans will have to cave eventually. what he should be looking for is i think some face-saving way for everybody to just kick this can down the road. we shouldn't be doing anything right now. >> [ inaudible ]. >> we could have some vague spending cuts promised in the future, some real revenue sources. >> all in the future. because you don't want any austerity now. >> this is a terrible time to do it now. >> i think his reaction depends on whether or not the republicans can hold their coalition together. and if they can create a coalition that holds together, which might even include some democrats, i think they can prevail on this issue and get a small amount of cost redu